


Arctic Chill

by Goldy



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Crack, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2014-07-28
Packaged: 2018-02-08 19:09:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1952715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goldy/pseuds/Goldy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor and Rose get trapped in the Canadian Arctic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Arctic Chill

“Oh,” said the Doctor, in that faint I-have-really-screwed-up-this-time tone. “Oops.”

Rose jammed her arms into a light jacket and followed him out of the TARDIS.

And then she yelped.

“Doctor?”

Icy wind whipped through her hair, and she shivered, burying into her jacket. She was pretty sure they’d landed on an iceberg.

A bloody _iceberg_.

The Doctor came up beside her and said, “Canada. Early twenty-first century. Northwest Territories… or is it Nunavet now?” He paused. “Look, seals. How nice.”

Rose refrained from smacking him—mostly because she was all ready too cold. She bounced up and down and rubbed her fingers together.

“Please tell me we don’t have to stay here,” she managed, teeth chattering.

“God, no,” the Doctor said. He took her by the arm and stepped forward—

—just as the ice gave a loud crack and gave out, plunging the TARDIS into the ocean.

“Oh, you’ve got to be _kidding_ me,” Rose said. She took a step back, eyeing the cracked ice in suspicion.

The Doctor looked appropriately perturbed. “That’s not good.”

“You _think_?” Rose hissed.

“Well,” said the Doctor. “Global Warming… and it being the TARDIS—I don’t know, it’s hard to predict how it will react to climates like this—”

Rose let out a frustrated breath. “Doctor,” she said, trying to keep her voice level. “Temperatures like this—dressed like we are—we’re not going to last long, yeah?”

His eyes widened. “It’s fine,” he said automatically. “It’ll all be fine. Come on—”

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close to his body, doing his best to cover both of them with his coat.

“—I _think_ the Canadians just set up a base around here somewhere. We’ll find it. Can’t be too far away.” He nudged her in the shoulder. “Just keep moving.”

She nodded. “Right.” Her fingers and cheeks were beginning to tingle painfully from the cold. She leaned in closer to the Doctor, who did his best to shield her from most of the wind. “Doctor? Haven’t you got a lower body temperature?”

He tilted his head to look at her, something unreadable in his eyes. Rose swallowed and looked away.

“I’ll be okay,” he finally said.

“So,” Rose said, trying to distract them both. “People actually _live_ out here?”

“Well, not really,” the Doctor said. “The natives, mostly. But the territory itself is under fierce dispute. Nearly everyone thinks it belongs to them, of course. Canada, Norway, Denmark—mind you, the United States refuses to recognize anyone’s claims. Even the Russians—they came out here and dropped a flag to the bottom of the ocean.”

“Maybe they can help us get the TARDIS back,” Rose said.

The Doctor chuckled. “Maybe.”

“But there’s not much out here,” Rose said. “Just… ice and stuff. What’s there to fight over?”

The Doctor shrugged. “It’s what you lot do. Big empty territory covered in ice? Has to belong to someone. Humans.”

He didn’t say it in a mean way. That, more than anything, worried Rose. She was beginning to suspect he had no clue where they actually were.

“So,” she continued. “Who won?”

“The one with the biggest guns,” the Doctor said. “Isn’t that how it always works?” He seemed to sense the defeat in his tone, and added more cheerfully, “A nice cup of hot cocoa! Doesn’t that sound nice? I’m sure there will be some. Just up ahead.”

“Does sound nice,” Rose said. She leaned her head on his shoulder and added sleepily, “I think I read once that if you get hypothermia, you’re supposed to snuggle naked under a blanket.”

The Doctor laughed softly. “Rose, if you wanted to cuddle naked, you only had to ask.”

“Right,” Rose said. “Didn’t think that one through. Are we almost there?”

He unconsciously pulled her in closer, arm slipping around her waist so he could half-carry her along. “Yeah. We’re almost there.”

“That’s good,” she said. She struggled to keep her eyes open. “I’m really tired.”

“Don’t,” he commanded, tone sharp enough so that she blinked and immediately felt more alert. In the same tone, he added, “Don’t you dare, Rose.”

She took a deep breath and said, “Tell me something else. Anything.”

He was quiet, and then said, “It was warm on Gallifrey. The Time Lords controlled the temperature, of course, but… it was perfect. It was always perfect.”

She jerked wide-awake at the mention of his home planet. She squeezed his arm. “Sounds nice. I wish… wish I could’ve seen it.”

“Me, too,” he said.

He stopped so he could pull her in for a hug. He held her close, hands moving up and down her arms to warm her up. Rose made an effort to stop her bottom lip from trembling. She didn’t want to worry him.

“Not quite naked time yet,” he declared. Rose grinned. “Come on. Nearly there.”

***

They walked another hour before reaching the army base. The Doctor flashed the psychic paper at them and the Canadians eagerly (but quite politely) offered to help.

Rose decided it was fortunate England did not appear to be one of the nations fighting for the Arctic.

“Good for the new recruits,” said the general in charge. “Besides, there’s not much else to do around here. And you two are royalty, eh?"

"Oh, yes," the Doctor said. "Descendants of... um, the William Mackenzie King. Just here on a royal visit to the colonies. Nice place. Very... crisp."

"Right!" said one of the young recruits. "William Mackenzie King! He's one of the dudes on our money, eh?"

There was a general murmur of agreement.

“A blue box, you said?” the General asked.

“Yep,” said the Doctor. “It’s… very important.”

“Right-o,” said the General. “C’mon boys. Grab a beer and let’s head out!”

Rose looked at the Doctor questioningly. “Beer?” she mouthed.

“Oh, well,” said the Doctor. “You know how it is. Culture.”

Rose opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, she found herself surrounded by a group of young and eager recruits.

“How are you feeling, Miss Tyler?” asked one of the trainees. “Are you quite warm enough yet? Would you like some more hot chocolate?”

“Here, try this,” another one said before Rose could answer. “Beaver fur. Very warm.”

“A… real beaver?” Rose squeaked. “I can’t—” Something warm settled around her shoulders. “Um, thank you.”

“Anything else we can get you, Miss Tyler?” said the first trainee.

“No, uh—I’m fine—”

“A drink?” said the trainee. “Something to eat? A warm shower—”

“Oh, all right,” the Doctor cut in, looking like he wasn’t sure whether to laugh or scowl. “She said she was fine.”

The trainee saluted. “We’ll have your box back in no time at all, Miss Tyler. Just hang tight. If you need anything, anything at all, give us a shout.”

“Thanks,” Rose said. “You’ve all been really nice.”

“Yeah, very nice,” the Doctor snapped, glaring until he scampered off.

“Perfect gentlemen,” Rose said, but she leaned against the Doctor’s side and raised her eyebrows. “So much for getting naked.”

The Doctor looked intrigued, but only said, “You are aware that you’re wearing a dead animal?”

“Yep,” she said. “It’s warm.”

The Doctor sounded amused. “See? What did I say? No problem. So the Arctic was a _slight_ miscalculation. Could have been worse.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Once we get the TARDIS back, let’s never leave, okay? Bad things always happen when we do.”

“But,” the Doctor said in a pained voice. “There are so many things to see _outside_ the TARDIS. Seals and… and… I dunno, trees and things.”

Rose snorted. “We can play hide and seek,” she said. “With, um… I know—biscuits!”

The Doctor perked up. “Ooh, the little graham cracker ones with chocolate on the outside?”

Rose nodded. “Yeah, I bet you this lot has loads of those!”

“Okay!” He thought for a moment. “Mind you, this does mean we’ll have to leave the TARDIS to buy milk…”  



End file.
